Ontario Conservative Leader opens the door to yet another debate about the merits of LRT versus underground transit.

Ontario PC leader Tim Hudak scrums with the media on Tuesday in Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square, repeating his pledge to emphasize subways in provincial transit funding if elected in future - when the deficit is beaten down.

On Tuesday, only hours after Premier Dalton McGuinty announced his resignation, Hudak was at Nathan Phillips Square, inserting his foot firmly in the door of yet another debate over the merits of subways versus LRTs.

He promised to dedicate as much as possible of the $8.4 billion the province has long promised for Toronto transit expansion (including $330 million from Ottawa) toward building underground transit — potentially diverting some money from the LRT program recently firmed up and already underway.

Accompanied by council allies of pro-subway Mayor Rob Ford, Hudak also repeated his pledge of last week to build subways, upload the TTC’s current subway lines and new LRTs to provincial control, and supersize the transportation agency Metrolinx.

But there’s a catch: Building more subways will have to wait until the $14.4 billion provincial deficit has been eliminated, said Hudak, suggesting it might be years before he’s able to expand transit even if an election were held this year or in early 2013.

He conceded that he doesn’t know how feasible redirecting funds will be if he becomes premier and the LRT projects are already well underway.

“We’ll be practical about this … . Whatever dollars are in the existing pool, I’ll maximize those to go underground,” said Hudak, who also echoed Ford’s repudiation of streetcars.

“You can’t build a strong, thriving city by ripping up existing streets. I don’t want to see the mess on St. Clair repeated across the city,” he said.

While acknowledging that the province can spend its transit funds as it chooses, TTC chair Karen Stintz said the LRT lines planned for Eglinton, Finch, Sheppard and the Scarborough RT have already left the station.

The master agreement spelling out how the $8.4 billion will be spent is close to being signed by the city manager. Council will be officially informed of that agreement in November, she said.

“From my perspective, council has approved the four lines. There’s no decision by council to revisit what we’ve approved. We were asked to make a decision on our transit future. We made it. Contracts are being let, work is being done,” she said.

Provincial officials confirmed that the master agreement requires ministerial approval that can move ahead, even though the legislature is not sitting.

Metrolinx has spent $525 million on Toronto LRT projects, with an additional $1.1 billion in signed contract commitments, according to the government.

The agency is still in discussions with Bombardier over buying light rail vehicles to furnish the new LRT lines and is close to signing a contract, said a Metrolinx spokeswoman. Giant tunnel-boring machines are expected to begin digging east from Black Creek Dr. under Eglinton in February.

“As a cabinet minister, his government slashed public transit funding to zero. That was after they cancelled and filled in a subway tunnel along Eglinton when they first came to power — a short-sighted move that cost taxpayers over $270 million,” he said in a statement.

Suspending the legislature is only going to slow down Toronto’s transit expansion, already 20 years overdue, said Toronto NDP MPP Jonah Schein (Davenport).

“We’ve waited a very long time to get the city moving again. We had a very long debate at city hall. We had the province go back and forth on their commitments. We have a plan in place,” he said. “Let’s get moving on it.”

Schein also disagreed with Hudak’s suggestion that the province operate Toronto’s transit system.

“The TTC has a 100-year history of operating and building transit in Toronto,” he said. “What they haven’t had for a very long time is proper support from the province.”

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